This invention relates to a joint or connector for use in joining together structural components, wherein the joint or connector is made of a three-dimensional woven fabric.
There are a variety of fasteners or connectors by which structural elements may be connected together including bolts, clamps, nails, pins, rivets, screws, and the like. Such connectors are generally made of metal and are thus quite heavy; further, they typically provide for a plurality of contact points between the joined structural elements and thus the loads and stresses between the elements are concentrated at those points. A type of fabric connector has also been used, especially in the aircraft industry, to join structural supports such as spars or ribs to structural coverings such as wing skins. Such fabric connectors which are bonded by adhesive or other fastening mechanism to both the structural support and the structural covering at the joint thereof, although being lightweight, typically provide strength and efficient load transfer in only a limited number of directions, while presenting weaknesses in other directions in the form of pell problems.